This week has been busy, so all my korean-language interaction has been reduced to watching 3 k-drama episodes. I felt too tired to do anything else.

Yesterday I passed by a bookstore and saw a rare find: a spanish-based book for learning japanese . Really, it's so hard to find one of those at local bookstores! I didn't buy it right away though, I went home and before going to bed I looked for some reviews and some images of the inside. That convinced me and today I bought it. I'm so happy with the book! But now I have a problem: I want to go back to actively study/learn japanese!

I know I don't want to stop learning korean; but I don't know how to open some space for japanese. I'll need to think about it.

Today my sister and I worked together on a scene from "Kill Me, Heal Me" (킬미, 힐미). First, we watched it with korean subs and then we read it aloud (without acting it, just reading) and marked the things that we didn't know or that we had doubts about. Then we proceeded to look for the meaning of those things. We took handwritten notes in the korean transcript page that we had previously printed (we have two copies: one for her and one for me).

We almost completed this process with the first three lines and then we had to go somewhere else, so we didn't "act" the dialogues.

One of the unknown words was 인지. Later today I was watching a promo video of a kdrama and I read this: "꿈인지 현실인지 알 수 없는 1988년". I was happy to see the new word appearing there and I was also happy because knowing it made me able to understand the whole phrase on the first try and without having to look for anything in a dictionary.

As I expected, July has been a very busy month for me. I've continued studying and learning korean, but at a slower pace. I can still feel the progress though, so that's nice

Current activities summary:

- So far I've watched 918 minutes of no-subbed korean video content. And I've also continued watching korean TV with english subs. This month, in particular, I've been watching almost everything with english subs (with maybe two or three exceptions).

- I'm on page 105 of the "맞춤 스페인어권 한국어-1: Coreano para la Comunidad Coreana Hispanohablante" textbook. I find it relaxing to work through this book. I'm a little over the mid-point now.

- From time to time I've been listening to some TTMIK podcasts. I'm currently on level 2, lesson 29.

- I've been going to my weekly korean classes. Before the looooong break, I had taken about three months of classes sprinkled with smaller breaks between them. Going back to the absolute beginners class has been a great way to see how far I've come over the past year. Things that were difficult when I started the class the first time (around July last year), now seem rather easy and "obvious" to me. Going back to the absolute begginers class has also been good to detect some weak spots: for example, I still have some difficulties recognizing and remembering the difference between ㅗ and ㅓin certain words. When they are alone I can recognize and differentiate them right, but when they are spoken within words I get a bit confused.

- Since my last "Quick update" I've not done anything else with my activity of "acting" k-dramas dialogues. I like this activity a lot, but the first part of it is quite intensive and time-consuming (First, watch a segment with korean subs and then read it aloud —without acting it, just reading— and mark the things that are unknown or unclear. Then proceed to look for the meaning of those things and take handwritten notes in the korean transcript printed page). So I still have to get to the acting part Hopefully, now that I'm finally starting to have more free time and less stress with other stuff in my life, I'll be able to do it.

- I'm experimenting with a new activity. Using various resources (Viki's Learn Mode, books, etc.) I've been handwriting some dual stuff while comparing how things are said in both languages. First I listen to the audio (if it has audio); then I read the korean and try to guess its meaning; then I read the english version and compare it to the korean one. And then I handwrite both the korean and the english versions while paying a lot of attention to them and thinking about them. I try to get the most out of each line before moving on to the next one, but I don't go out of my way to look for things (like looking for a word in a dictionary or something like that). I know I've done something similar in the past, but the inclusion of the handwriting part adds a more concrete feeling to what I see and I think it may facilitate my learning a lot. 50% of the stuff I handwrite is taken from Viki (by using the "Learn Mode") and the other 50% is taken from different vocabulary and grammar books. I'm curently using a k-drama called "Manhole" (맨홀: 이상한 나라의 필) and I try to intercalate my work with it with my work with the books. What I like about this activity is that it is very flexible: each time I can do just one line or many lines depending on my time and my energy levels. And I also like that it has a moderate intensity because I don't go out of my way to look for things, so I don't get obsessed with understanding each and every little detail and I just move on when I can't get more out of it with my current level/knowledge.

Apart from my korean activities, I've been dabbling a bit in japanese lately. From time to time I practice/learn kanji with the "Japanese Kanji Study - 漢字学習" android app. I'm taking it easy, so I use the drawing quiz mode with these specifications: "Detección normal, Mostrar pistas, Repetir hasta conseguirlo, Mostrar respuesta" (I have the configuration of the app in spanish). This shows me the meaning of a kanji and the kanji itself in a light shade. I just have to write it in the right order to move on. And if I don't write it in the right order, I have to repeat it again until I succeed. I have the kanjis divided in the "Kanken" (Kanji Kentei) levels and I recently moved from dabbling with the kanjis of the "Kanken lvl 10" to dabbling with the kanjis of "Kanken lvl 9.

Aside from my occasional kanji study I've also been dabbling in the book I bought at the beginning of July: "KOI: Manual Básico de Japonés" by Yoko Nakazawa. I really, really like this book. It explains things in such a clear and "easy" way that I'm finally understanding things that always confused me. And it teaches while keeping in mind the perspective of a spanish native speaker which is great because it actually makes more sense to me that the explanations given with english native speakers in mind (I still have a long way to go with english).

Early in the morning I watched a new episode of "High Kick Through The Roof" (지붕 뚫고 하이킥). I'm watching this sitcom without subs. Today I felt I understood more than in any of the other episodes until now and it felt really nice! I also got to hear a word from the "맞춤 스페인어권 한국어-1: Coreano para la Comunidad Coreana Hispanohablante" that I recently learned: 놀이터 (playground). This was interesting because when I met that word in the book I thought to myself: "I'll probably won't need this word any time soon". But just a few days later I'm hearing it in a sitcom

I also skimmed through my grammar books and decided that I would like to read "Korean: A Comprehensive Grammar" (by Jaehoon Yeon and Lucien Brown) from cover to cover. I've had this grammar book for a long time but when I started korean last year it felt a bit intimidating. But now things have changed and I realized that I actually really like the way the book is organized and how it explains things, so I think it may give me a really good global understanding of korean grammar. I just plan to read, understand and move on. I won't try to actively memorize anything.

For now I think I'll replace my "Easy to Learn Korean series" progress bar with a new bar for my progress with the reading of this book. But I'll keep the "Easy to Learn Korean series" progress bar here for easy access (and reference) for when I get back to that series:

In August I'll have more free time, but my non-language-learning related activities will take a lot of my energy and focus, so I've decided to go on "low-intensity activities mode".

Current activities summary:

- So far I've watched 1262 minutes of no-subbed korean video content. And I've also continued watching korean TV with english subs.

- I'm still on page 105 of the "맞춤 스페인어권 한국어-1: Coreano para la Comunidad Coreana Hispanohablante" textbook. I've been planning to work more with this book but I've been distracted by other activities.

- I've been going to my weekly korean classes.

- I'll pause my activity of "acting" k-dramas dialogues. I like this activity a lot, but the whole first part of it is pretty intensive and that's not compatible with my current "low-intensity activities mode". Maybe in one or two months I'll come back to this activity.

- I'm experimenting with a new activity (update).

Using various resources (Viki's Learn Mode, books, etc.) I've been handwriting some dual stuff while comparing how things are said in both languages. First I listen to the audio (if it has audio); then I read the korean and try to guess its meaning; then I read the english version and compare it to the korean one. And then I handwrite both the korean and the english versions while paying a lot of attention to them and thinking about them. I try to get the most out of each line before moving on to the next one, but I don't go out of my way to look for things (like looking for a word in a dictionary or something like that). I know I've done something similar in the past, but the inclusion of the handwriting part adds a more concrete feeling to what I see and I think it may facilitate my learning a lot. 50% of the stuff I handwrite is taken from Viki (by using the "Learn Mode") and the other 50% is taken from different vocabulary and grammar books. I'm curently using a k-drama called "Manhole" (맨홀: 이상한 나라의 필) and I try to intercalate my work with it with my work with the books. What I like about this activity is that it is very flexible: each time I can do just one line or many lines depending on my time and my energy levels. And I also like that it has a moderate intensity because I don't go out of my way to look for things, so I don't get obsessed with understanding each and every little detail and I just move on when I can't get more out of it with my current level/knowledge.

This activity was very intensive and it got simplified many times until it became:Read the "Korean: A Comprehensive Grammar" book (by Jaehoon Yeon and Lucien Brown) from cover to cover and intercalate the reading with watching korean TV (with or without subs).

My current "evolved" activity version is very enjoyable and it is also compatible with my current "low-intensity activities mode". I think I'll keep at it for quite some time . I'm currently on page 25 of the book. "Korean: A Comprehensive Grammar" has the most complete and clearest description/explanation I've ever found about the Korean script and pronunciation. It is awesome!!!

- I'm back at using Memrise. I'm just using it to get rapid exposure to some vocabulary divided by categories. I skip the "reviews" and go directly to "learn new words".

I finally found the audios for the korean-english version (here), so now I feel very tempted to use this version because I enjoy a lot using dual texts and the english one got the upper hand with the audios.

Finished watching "Are you human too?" (너도 인간이니?) and I enjoyed it so, so much. At first the female protagonist had kind of an antagonist role, but then everything changed and I was rooting for her. This drama was full of twists and very interesting questions that kept me engaged for the whole ride. What makes us humans? Can an AI develop a personality and have feelings? What makes a mom a mom? What makes a son a son? Do we have the right to decide for others? What are the consequences of our actions and decisions?

The main male lead was great in his double role: the human "Nam Shin" and the AI "Nam Shin III".

So sad that is over

On other news, today I watched the latest episode of 2 Days & 1 Night (1박 2일) featuring "Shinhwa" (신화), a boy band with a 20 year long career under their belts, as guests. It's one of the funniest episodes ever!!! I watched it raw and I loved it from beginning to end. Now I'm patiently waiting to re-watch it when the english subs are available.

I also momentarily stopped reading "Korean: A Comprehensive Grammar". I really like this book but it has some segments that are too advanced for me at the moment and I get bored pretty fast while I slog through those parts. So I decided to change my approach: I'll stop counting the pages read and instead I'll just continue reading the book with an "interest-based" approach (I'll just read the things that are interesting to me at the moment). So, just for future reference, I'll leave this here:

: 63 / 447 Korean: A Comprehensive Grammar (pages) :

In early August I watched some korean content without subs, but laletly I've only been watching subbed videos.

I stopped using Memrise, but I dabble from time to time in some Android apps.

I also started a new activity (and I have a new progress bar for it): I'm watching a k-drama with dual subs using Viki's Learn Mode and I'm also reading a transcription from that drama using the Reading tool at Language Tools. For the dual subs I pause the video before they start speaking (or at the very beginning of the line), I read the korean subs and try to guess their meaning, then I read the english version and compare both lines (the korean one and the english one), sometimes I use the pop-up dictionary (but most of the time I don't), and then I listen to the spoken line at least once and sometimes more (if, for example, I want to pay special attention to some tricky pronunciation or something like that). I'm doing it with a drama I've already watched for the most part because I first tried it with a new drama and I didn't like to interrupt the momentum by pausing at each line. With the old drama I don't have that problem because I already know what comes next.

Going through the transcript with the Reading tool actually takes me more time than going through the video with dual subs. Maybe it's because I just started to use that tool and most of the words are marked as unknown.

I'll update my progress bar for "dual subs" every time I finish an episode (because it's easier for me to count time that way).

I think that's all for now. See you in my next update!

Last edited by AndyMeg on Fri Sep 07, 2018 6:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.